Washington  Two senators who have been blocking confirmation of Obama administration nominees, including the man put forward for secretary of the Army, say they’ll back off and let the approval process go forward.

Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback had been standing in the way of confirmation of New York Republican Rep. John McHugh for the Army secretary job as well as Senate clearance of nominees for a host of other senior Defense and Justice department positions. It was done in a joint protest of administration policy on U.S.-held terrorism-era detainees at Guantanamo.

Roberts and Brownback said in a statement Wednesday that they now believe the detainees won’t be relocated to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., which they had vehemently opposed. They said they reached that conclusion after discussions with the administration.